World Series Game 4 all about Jonny Gomes

Jonny Gomes was deemed unaffordable by the A’s. All he did for them in 2012, he did for a million bucks, and the A’s figured they were deep enough in 2013 that Gomes was expendable.

So off he went to the Red Sox for two years and $10 million, switching from the Coliseum to Fenway Park, from The Pit (to quote Bud Selig) to The Palace, from coach to first class. The Red Sox snagged Oakland’s best team leader and made him their own, and they got a bargain.

Gomes hit the biggest home run of his reared-in-Petaluma life on Sunday night, a three-run shot in the sixth inning of Game 4 of the World Series, lifting the Red Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Cardinals that evened the Series at two games apiece.

There will be a Game 6, meaning FenwayPark will reopen for business, which is fine for Gomes, who won over Boston fans nearly as fast as he won over his Boston teammates. The Red Sox, who went worst to first in the American League East, have chemistry and camaraderie, all the elements that aren’t supposed to be quantified but matter a bunch in October, and much of the credit is Gomes’.

Sunday’s was the first World Series game not decided by shoddy defense. From Pete Kozma in Game 1 to Craig Breslow in Game 2 to Jarrod Saltalamacchia in Game 3, this was not the basis for a how-to-defend DVD. Game 4 was decided by one mighty swing off Seth Maness’ 2-2 misplaced sinker.

Gomes made the score 4-1 and drew a round of beard tugs from his just-as-hairy teammates. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t supposed to play Sunday. Gomes was in the lineup only because right fielder Shane Victorino was scratched with back tightness. Left fielder Daniel Nava moved to right, and Gomes played left.

He was 0-for-9 in the World Series and a .125 career postseason hitter coming in, which is why Lance Lynn threw four pitches out of the zone to David Ortiz with Gomes on deck. Lynn wasn’t thrilled manager Mike Matheny pulled him, but Matheny watched Gomes work Lynn for a 10-pitch walk in his previous plate appearance. So with two on and two outs, Gomes was the guy the Cardinals wanted to face.

Whoops.

As so many young A’s players recognized, Gomes’ value to a team extends beyond his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which actually decreased across the board this year to .247/.344/.426. With Oakland, his slash line was .262/,377/.491.

In his only year with the A’s, Gomes won the Catfish Hunter Award as the A’s most inspirational player, the Dave Stewart Community Service Award and even the Good Guy Award, presented by the Bay Area chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for being so media-friendly.

It was the Triple Crown of character, and Gomes doubled as the unofficial spokesman for the Petaluma team that played deep into the Little League World Series. Beyond all that, Gomes was a tremendous influence on Josh Reddick, Josh Donaldson and most everybody else on the A’s, including the young pitchers, as they won the first of two straight division titles.

The A’s wanted Gomes back and offered a two-year deal in September 2012, but it wasn’t consummated by his ex-agents. The A’s went in another direction and dealt for Diamondbacks center fielder Chris Young, a regrettable decision.

Young hit .200 and never took to the platoon role in which Gomes cherished. Gomes changed agents and signed with the Red Sox for two years and $10 million, a little more than the A’s will pay Young for one: $8.5 million and a $1.5 million buyout minus $500,000 they received from the Diamondbacks.

Donaldson evolved into an elite overall player, and the A’s won another division without Gomes, so they didn’t exactly miss him, did they? Would he have gotten a hit or two to help the A’s advance beyond the Division Series? One guy not thinking about it is Gomes, who’s simply thankful to play in his first World Series.

Gomes has had several near-death experiences. As a teenager, he was in a car crash that killed one of his best friends, Adam Westcott. At 22, he had a heart attack, the result of a clogged artery. After the Boston Marathon bombings, Gomes swung bats with the names of victims and authenticated them for charity.

Sunday, before the top of the sixth inning, Gomes joined players, coaches, umpires, broadcasters and fans and held up two Stand Up To Cancer cards. One had the name of Bob Leslie, the coach from Petaluma’s Casa Grande High School who died in 1998 of oral cancer. He was 34.

Gomes said he was inspired by the tribute and spoke of “some angels above the stadium looking down on myself and everybody else.” The next half inning, he got his chance at World Series history and made it.